Organization Roundup

Organizing would be easy if we all had hundreds of bucks laying around to go spend on really nifty boxes and notebooks or expensive scanners. If you don’t have the money, or just don’t want to spend money on stuff in which to put your other stuff (understandable), you can still get organized on the cheap, using what you already have. Unclutterer has a great post on this topic. I can add a few other suggestions:

• Definitely use Contact paper on the boxes, or something plasticky, if you’re going to use cardboard boxes at all – cardboard is ugly, smelly, can attract bugs, can help breed mold and mildew and does horrible things if it gets the least bit wet, but if you cover it nicely, you can have really attractive boxes that are almost as resistant to all that stuff as plastic bins.
• Depending where you live and what’s available to you, it may actually be cheaper to just buy plastic bins than to buy Contact paper. Probably not, considering how many boxes you can make from one cheap roll of Contact paper, but it’s your call.
• Need to buy some containers after all? Check out the dollar store. Look not only at closet stuff, but baskets, laundry accessories and even kitchen stuff.
• Notebooks can also be covered with Contact paper (yeah, I’m a fan of the stuff). Recycle grubby old used notebooks this way, and you have binders (a great filing system).
• Need file folders or hanging file folders? Somewhere near you, there’s a local business going paperless, and they’d most likely be happy to give you some of their used filing stuff. Check out doctors’ offices and hospitals – there’s a big push in that industry to convert everything over to computers.

The most important thing to do when getting organized is to get rid of what you don’t need. The less you have to organize, the easier it’ll be.  The six month rule has been invaluable to me in keeping down the clutter.

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Posted in Organization on February 17, 2009